


Like Sunlight

by Nevcolleil



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, M/M, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-16
Updated: 2012-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-29 15:58:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/321637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevcolleil/pseuds/Nevcolleil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remix of Magpie's <i>Serpentigia Sequence</i>: If there were no splice between Faith and Wesley... what would happen after Drusilla captured and turned Wesley?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Looking back later it would seem like just a dream - or how he imagined a human’s dreams could be.

He only distantly felt involved in any of it. Dru’s triumphant expression, Faith’s frantic screams… The sound of battle far behind them all. The sight of Wesley lying with his head cradled in Dru’s lap…

Humans had dreams like these. Nightmares. Where they couldn’t run from the thing they feared, or to someone they-

"Angel, for crissakes, stop fucking about! Dust the bitch and get Wes the fuck outta there!"

He was trying. Oh, fucking _God_ , he was trying. The harder he fought towards Wesley’s side, the more sluggish his movements became. Prosperexa’s power was all around him - thickening the air until he swayed within it. He couldn’t even change in the grips of the magic. His eyes glittered an angry, but helpless, yellow, and the low growl that built in his throat rumbled from him languidly.

Dru smiled. There were no spells holding her demon back. She slipped into game face and slowly - almost sweetly - lowered her fangs to Wes’s bared throat, her eyes on Angel - and, behind him, Faith - the entire time.

“Fuck, no!” Faith screamed.

Something inside Angel stuttered, then snapped.

He lunged. It felt like he was slamming himself up against a brick wall to do it, but Angel barely moved. He steeled himself until every muscle in his body was stretching unnaturately. But still he could only take the slowest of steps towards Dru and Wesley. And then he could only crawl. And then he was on his knees - then his belly - one arm outstretched towards the horrific scene he could do no more to stop.

His fingers brushed Wes’s knee.

That was worse. Worse than if he hadn’t been able to break the barrier at all. He was so _close_. He was too fucking close to-

Dru sank her fangs into Wesley’s flesh and began to drink as Angel looked on with wild eyes and Faith wept.

They watched as Dru drank just enough to drain the color from Wesley’s skin like ink from a pen, and for his body to begin trembling faintly. Dru cooed all the while, reaching up to her makeshift altar and coating her finger’s in Proserpexa’s blood. She dipped them into Wesley’s mouth, feeding him - even as he regained consciousness, beginning to struggle slightly. She spoke to him at times like a mother to her child, fondling his hair and stroking his cheek. Then she was brushing his lips like a lover, tugging at his clothing, batting his hands away…

“No more…” Wesley moaned, whisper-soft.

Dru wrapped one hand around Wesley’s half-filled erection as she tore at his clothes to bare him from hips to thighs.

‘ _Dru, no, please…_ ’

"Now, that should do it, pretty Wesley,” Dru said, ignoring his sob-like protests and Angel‘s silent pleas. “Time to say goodbye to that nasty piece of gold."

Dru sank her fangs into Wesley’s thigh and began to drank again. For the first time, Wesley screamed.

“Wes, no…” Angel found his voice at last. It sounded broken.

Wesley slowly turned towards him; his blue eyes struggling to focus on Angel’s face…

Angel had heard that humans sometimes saw their lives flash before their eyes as they died.

But here he was the one flashing back...

…to a thin man in a tailored suit, all the way back in Sunnydale. To a surprisingly familiar face and riding leathers… a pink helmet. 'Hop on, gorgeous.'

 _Angel sweeps Wes into a hug before considering the wisdom of the action. Cordy’s always encouraging him to “open up”, be more physical in a way that doesn’t involve killing things. It’s only when the scent hits him that he realizes how hugging might not be a wise way of doing this. He can smell everything - the soap Wes used in the shower this morning, the sheets he slept on last night; the dusty old leather of the books Wes reads. It’s funny how his scent is the same today as it was yesterday, as it was the day before that. But somehow it’s always just a little bit different. Something is a little bit different. Angel just can’t put his finger on what. It’s like…_

Betrayal… to the burning in his blood and the blackening of his vision as he’d approached the form lying in its hospital bed. He hadn’t even seen Fred or Gunn as he’d passed them outside the room. He had been focusing too hard on his anger. He’d had to remember to be angry. So the pain would find no way to overtake him. His baby. Oh, God, his beautiful little- NO! His betrayer. His friend, his companion, his family… He’d lost all of it. Everything…

 _…but blood. Human blood, trickling past his lips. Air. Where’s the water gone? A familiar scent, mixed with another’s… The combination stings him somehow. Who…_

‘Tell him… Tell him I meant what I said. About missing him. But I’m not…man enough to forgive him…’

…to the shuttered eyes staring back at him over a desk that shouldn’t exist. As he’d first walked into the office, he’d been struck by the _wrongness_ of it. Wes should be back in _his_ office. Behind _his_ desk. Wes’s desk, no matter who was actually sitting at it. _“When I saw you lying in that hospital bed, unable to speak, I was…I… I don’t know what to do. Tell me how to forgive you.”_

 **But he had. He had forgiven him. He had- Oh, fuck, he hadn’t ever told him…**

 **‘Forgive me.’ Angel thought.**

 **Wesley’s eyes locked on his.**

 **“M’sorry…” was whispered. “So sorry…”**

 **Angel realized the whisper was Wesley’s.**

 **It felt like sunlight. Wesley’s hand stretched out towards Angel’s, falling just short of a touch...**

 **And then Wes was gone.**


	2. Chapter 2

“Much as I love you, G-man…you come a step closer to my Watcher, and I’ll cut your fucking head off.”

Giles didn’t move - he just stood there at the mouth of the enclave Faith had drug Wesley into, with Buffy at his side and that sympathetic expression on his face.

Faith tightened her grip on the sword held before her, swallowing her reaction to the look. She didn’t need sympathy. She _wouldn’t_. Not if everybody backed their asses off and let her figure this shit out.

“Faith…”

Before, B’s voice would have sounded a lot different as she said that name. Alpha-Slayer-ish and pissed off. Funny how a few months and a prophecy could bring a couple of girls together like being the only two of their kind on Earth never could. Buffy was scared. And sad. Her face was wet with tears. Maybe she felt a little like Faith. They’d lost enough friends for one night, and in Wesley they had lost something else, as well. Maybe they’d never know what else.

“No.”

 _Fuck_ no. Fuck _that_. They would know. Wesley was still here. Somewhere. Faith knew they could find a way to keep him. This night didn’t have to end with her scrubbing Watcher-scented dust out of her jeans. If Angel and Spike had found a way, then Wesley could, too. Or she’d find one for him.

Giles put a hand on Buffy’s arm. “Faith…that isn’t Wesley.”

The tone of his voice was sad, also. Yeah - on some level, Faith understood the Ripper didn’t _want_ to stake her man. Working together under extreme circumstances - even the little bit of time they’d had since Wes had come back to Sunny-Hell - had brought the two Brits closer. Giles just didn’t want to see what would happen if they couldn’t find a way to keep Wes here, or bring him back - soul and all.

Faith didn’t blame him. She’d always had conflicted emotions about Wesley. Now there was this prophecy… And the weird mojo that had been working on her and Wes since they’d found out about their Watcher/Slayer bond. But still, Faith would admit - Wes could be one scary assed human being when he wanted to be. Now that he was turned…

“You know it isn’t,” Giles was saying. “Faith, think. What you’d worried about becoming when Tiro took over the prison… _That_ is what you’re defending.”

Faith wasn’t sure if she was shaking her head…or if the rest of her was trembling, taking her head along for the ride.

“Only worse. A vampire with a Watcher’s knowledge, and a Slayer’s stamina… Made with the blood of Proserpexa. You have no idea the kind of power we’re talking about. We could easily be sparing the unlife of another Angelus.”

She was definitely shaking now.

“There’s another way. There’s gotta be another way.”

There had to be. After all that had happened… After having Wesley come here… After he’d forgiven Faith for all the shit she’d done to him - given her the chance to save him the way Angel had saved her so long ago. It wasn’t just the prophecy telling Faith she couldn’t let him die now. It wasn’t just that weird bond the Council’d cooked up. It wasn’t just the weird non-romance they’d struck up somewhere along the way. Wes was Faith’s _friend_. He was all their friend; a part of their fucked up little family. He’d saved Faith’s life. And Spike’s sanity, when Drusilla’s dream chalice was driving him mad with visions.

“What if there isn’t?”

That was Spike now, coming up from behind Giles and Buffy and… ‘ _Oh, God_.’ Not him, too. Goddammit, she couldn’t fight him, too.

“So what? You come to do the dirty deed before we can find out?”

Faith’s words were directed to Spike - if she had to speak to Angel right now she might start screaming and never stop. The back of her throat burned like she was screaming already. But she kept her eyes on the other vampire, as she spit her anger at Spike - feeling an irrational sting of betrayal as Spike filled out the semi-circle of disapproval in front of her. There wasn’t much she was feeling right now that was rational. She almost felt good when she saw the way Spike winced at her words.

“Oh. Right. I forgot. You’re not big on the staking all of a sudden. Does that apply to all your family members… Or just your crazy-assed sire?”

Spike was pale. Paler than normal. The look in his eyes…

Faith looked away from him. ’Almost’ was fucking right. And Angel wasn’t saying - or doing - a damned thing. Except inching closer to her and Wes. Faith tightened her grip on the sword until it hurt.

“No. No, I’m not going to stake him,” Spike said quietly. Buffy threw a look his way. Faith wondered then if he was even objecting because he thought he should… Or if it was because he thought Buffy thought he should. Did he feel it, too? Feel how _wrong_ it would be to let things go this way now. He was as much a part of the twisted destiny that prophecy had placed him and her and Angel and Wes in as Faith was. Maybe more. The prophecy had actually called Wesley his brother.

“But maybe…”

Maybe her ass. Maybe they wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Spike. If he hadn’t been too weak to stake Dru when he’d had the chance, before she’d gotten her hands on Wes again.

“Maybe you should go, Faith. Spike and I will stay with him,” Angel spoke up finally.

Yeah! Right… _That_ was happening. If Angel thought he was gonna just-

Angel held up his hands. Faith looked at him for the first time. Actually looked.

“Or stay,” he was saying. “But we’re staying, too.”

“Angel…”

Giles’s voice sealed the deal before Faith could really think about it. If nothing else, Angel could keep the wolves at bay. Assuming he wasn’t one. Could Faith trust him? Wesley had trusted him. Despite everything… He _trusted_ him. That was enough.

Faith didn’t trust herself to do more than nod.

She hardly noticed as the others came and went - Xander and Buffy somewhere unknown, to grieve; Anya to get blankets, flashlights, and blood. Faith stalked back and forth in front of Wes as though possessed - one eye always on Angel as he knelt near Wes’s side. Spike paced and kept up the occasional conversation with Giles.

And they waited.

Until Wes opened his eyes.

And then his mouth.

And then he leapt at her…fangs bared.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally published on January 22, 2005. Magpie's amazing story can be found [here](http://www.myarseisnotpansy.co.uk/piedm/snakes1.html). This fic is a rewrite of the chapter "Snake Eyes", written with Magpie's gracious permission.


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